(Asian Cup) S. Korea defeat Saudi Arabia on penalties to reach quarterfinals

South Korea knocked off Saudi Arabia 4-2 on penalties to advance to the quarterfinals at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in Qatar on Tuesday.

South Korean goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo made two stops in the shootout, while the first four South Korean shooters all converted their kicks at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, west of Doha, in the round of 16 at the top AFC tournament.

Abdullah Radif gave Saudi Arabia the lead less than a minute into the second half, and the Green Falcons were moments away from sending the Taegeuk Warriors home before substitute Cho Gue-sung headed home the equalizer nine minutes into stoppage time.

The teams were goalless in the extra session, and Jo played the hero in the shootout to send South Korea to the last eight.

Next up for South Korea will be Australia in the quarterfinals at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, south of Doha. The match will kick off at 6:30 p.m. Friday local time, or 12:30 a.m. Saturday in South Korea. It will be a rematch of the 2015 Asian Cup final, where host Australia prevailed 2-1 in extra time.

South Korea, coached by Jurgen Klinsmann, are trying to win their first Asian Cup title since 1960.

Klinsmann used a back-three formation, with three center backs starting, for the first time since taking the reins in February last year.

Against South Korea’s defensive-minded, conservative setup with the two wingbacks also sitting back, Saudi Arabia enjoyed an early advantage in ball possession and held South Korea without a shot attempt for the opening 25 minutes.

However, South Korea’s first shot was a dangerous one. On a quick counterattack, Son Heung-min fired a hard shot through the legs of defender Hassan Al-Tambakti’s from the center of the box, forcing a tough stop by goalkeeper Ahmed Al-Kassar in the 26th minute

Saudi Arabia pushed back three minutes later with their own counterattack following a South Korean turnover, but Saleh Al-Shehri rolled his right-footed shot well left of the target.

Just past the half-hour mark, Son got off another shot from outside the box but defender Ali Lajami got a piece of the ball, which slowed it down for Al-Kassar to make an easy save.

South Korea caught a lucky break late in the first half to stay tied, as Saudi Arabia struck the woodwork twice in the same sequence following a 41st-minute corner by Mohammed Al-Burayk.

First, it was Saleh Al-Shehri hitting the crossbar with a forceful header from the left side of the six-yard box. The rebound floated back toward Ali Lajami, whose own header connected with the top of the bar to keep the match scoreless.

Salem Al-Dawsari got a third header during the mad scramble but defender Kim Min-jae tipped it out of play.
Saudi Arabia broke the deadlock less than a minute after the restart, with the substitute Abdullah Radif scoring right off the bench after replacing Al-Shehri.

A cross from Mohammed Al-Burayk deflected off the leg of Salem Al-Dawsari and rolled toward Radif, who sprinted behind the defense for an open look. The forward then found the bottom right corner with his left-footed shot.

After a quiet stretch, South Korea began mounting a frenetic push for an equalizer.

In the 86th minute, Hwang In-beom got a shot off as he fell to the pitch, and Al-Kassar made a spectacular kick save. Moments later, Al-Tambakti blocked consecutive shots by Son Heung-min and Seol Young-woo.

Al-Kassar came up huge once again in the next minute to deny Seol on a close-range header.

Two minutes into stoppage time, Cho Gue-sung’s header hit the crossbar to keep Saudi Arabia ahead.

But Cho wouldn’t be denied again. A couple of minutes from the final whistle, Cho’s header from the goalmouth, set up by Seol’s headed pass, found the back of the net and sent the match into extra time.

South Korea dominated the run of play in the extra period, though Al-Kassar almost single-handedly kept the match tied.

The goalkeeper turned aside a header by Kim Min-jae in the 98th minute and then made another outstanding stop on Lee Kang-in in the 114th minute.

Al-Kassar’s counterpart, Jo Hyeon-woo, came up with his best save of the match on Radif during stoppage time of the second half of extra time.

Jo was far from done, as he saved his best heroics for last.

With Saudi Arabia going first in the shootout, the first two shooters for each side converted their penalties.

Jo then dove to his right to stop a low shot from Sami Al-Najei. Cho Gue-sung, the stoppage time hero, then scored his spot kick to put South Korea ahead.

Jo kept South Korea in front with a save on Abdulrahman Ghareeb. Hwang Hee-chan then capped off the hard-fought victory with a successful kick.